identical, though closely related, with 

 the Citron, the fruit of the Citrus 

 me die a. 



As above stated the lemon tree 

 bears fruit all the year round so that a 

 number of crops are gathered annually. 

 There are, however, three principal crops 

 collected as follows: The first from 

 July to the middle of September; the 

 second in November; and the third 

 in January. Frequently there are 

 also collections in April and in May 

 The tree is rather delicate, not as hardy 

 as the orange, for example. In upper 

 Italy it even becomes necessary to 

 cover the trees during the winter 

 months. Lemons intended for ship- 

 ment are picked before they are fully 

 ripe and packed in barrels or boxes 

 holding from 400 to 700. When ex- 

 posed the fruit shrinks and loses in 

 weight very rapidly, due to the evap- 

 oration of moisture from the pulpy in- 

 terior. In Italy each lemon is wrapped 

 in tissue paper to protect it against in- 

 jury and to reduce the evaporation of 

 moisture. Sometimes they are coated 

 with collodion or covered with lead foil 

 to reduce the loss of moisture. 



The lemon is put to various uses. 

 The yellow rind contains many minute 

 cavities which are filled with a fixed oil 

 and an ethereal oil to which the fruit 

 owes its fragrant odor. In Italy the 

 oil is obtained in a very crude way. 

 The peel is cut into three longitud- 

 inal slices. The workman takes 

 one of these in his right hand, 

 in the left he grasps a small sponge; 

 by pressing the sponge against the 

 outer surface of the rind so that it be- 

 comes concave, the oil-bearing sacs 

 are ruptured and the oil absorbed by 

 the sponge. This is repeated until the 

 sponge becomes saturated, when the 

 juice is squeezed into a cup or other 

 vessel. I am very much afraid that 

 the sponge and the hands of the work- 

 man are not always clean. I have 

 been informed that an attempt to in- 

 troduce machinery for extracting the 

 oil was forcibly resisted. It is also 



stated that the oil obtained by the 

 "sponge process" is more valuable than 

 that obtained by machinery and distil- 

 lation. The bitter laste so evident in 

 the lemon is due to li?no?mi and 

 hesperidin, which occur most abun- 

 dantly in the rind. 



The sour taste of the lemon is due to 

 citric acid, which is found in the large 

 cells forming the pulpy interior. Of 

 course the sap is largely water, about 

 97.5 per cent., with about 2 per cent, 

 citric acid. The amount of acid varies, 

 however, even rising to 9 or 10 per 

 cent. The juice is easily expressed 

 and is put to various uses. Lemonade 

 is largely consumed on ships, as it is 

 said to prevent ship scurvy. Wash- 

 ing face and hands with diluted lemon 

 juice is said to remove tan and freckles. 

 The beneficial properties of lemon 

 juice, lemonade, in fevers is due to its 

 cooling and refreshing effects, and also 

 to the fact that it acts as a heart seda- 

 tive, thus tending to lower the temper- 

 ature. Lemon juice has been highly 

 recommended in acute rheumatism and 

 also to counteract the effects of certain 

 poisons, especially opium. 



The essential oil of lemon acts as a 

 stimulant and has been used in dis- 

 eases of the eye {ophthalmia). It also 

 serves to give an agreeable odor to 

 certain medicines, and is used in the 

 manufacture of perfumery and as a 

 flavoring agent for confectionery. 



The lemon peel is used in medicine. 

 Candied lemon peel is a confection 

 prepared by boiling the peel in syrup 

 and then allowing the sugar to crystal- 

 lize. 



The following is a description of the 

 excellently colored plate: ^ is a 

 flowering and fruit-bearing twig, nearly 

 natural size; i is a single flower, some- 

 what magnified; 2, stamens and pistil; 

 3, ovary in longitudinal sections; 3^, 

 ovary in cross section; 4, anthers; 4^, 

 pollen-grains; 5, fruit, nearly natural 

 size; 6, cross-section of fruit showing 

 rind, large-celled pulp and seeds; 7. 8, 

 and 9, seeds. 



